Budgets

A budget that reflects EU priorities

Our priorities for the budget are very clear: boosting competitiveness, protecting the vulnerable, strengthening EU defence and security, stabilising our immediate neighbourhood and making sure we are growing in an inclusive manner and in ways that our societies and our planet can sustain.

The EPP Group is conscious of its accountability to EU citizens and its role in managing EU resources. After all, the structure and the size of the EU budget has a direct effect on people’s lives.

As such, we believe EU citizens are always the priority for any EU budget; their lives are affected by the way we choose to spend resources. We are in particular mindful of our responsibility towards future generations: we must enable the EU to deal with the new realities our young people will confront, as well as empower our youth to face the future with confidence.

We believe firmly that EU spending should provide value for money and that the budget should reflect EU priorities rather than be guided by national interests. To this end, we are behind a system of own resources for the EU, reducing debates about the share of national contributions in the Council.

In addition, we also believe the EU budget should be used to rebuild trust and strengthen dialogue with citizens, as well as to create greater synergies with national and regional parliaments.